Oppo is launching its Reno 17 smartphone series in China today, 9 November 2026, with a design detail that has already drawn more attention than the specifications: a glowing cat on the back of the phone.

The company has confirmed the China launch date and has opened pre-orders on its China store, although it has not yet announced prices. The launch event also brings the Oppo Pad Air 6 tablet and the Oppo Watch 5 smartwatch, according to reports of the launch plans.

The most talked-about feature comes from Oppo's own teaser video, posted on Weibo. It shows a phone with a glowing, cat-shaped element on the rear panel that lights up in the dark. The rest of the design looks familiar: a flat rear panel, a square camera island in the top-left corner holding three cameras, and a flat metal frame in a silver finish.

It is not yet clear whether the glowing-cat treatment will appear on both the standard Reno 17 and the Reno 17 Pro, or only on one model. Leaked colour options reported for the series include Cocoa Brown, Encounter Cat, Ice Moon White, Snow White and Starlight Pink, with the Encounter Cat finish the likely match for the illuminated design seen in the teaser.

The specifications circulating before launch are leaks, not confirmed details, and different reports disagree on some of them. The standard Reno 17 is tipped to use Qualcomm's Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 chip with a display of about 6.5 inches, while the Reno 17 Pro is tipped to use a MediaTek Dimensity 8550 chip with a display of about 6.3 inches. Both are reported to use 1.5K OLED screens with a 120Hz refresh rate.

The battery is shaping up to be the main upgrade. The standard model is tipped to carry a battery of around 7,000mAh or 8,000mAh, with reports differing, while the Pro is tipped at around 7,000mAh or 7,200mAh. Both are expected to support 80W wired charging. That would be a clear step up from the Reno 16 series, which offered batteries of up to 6,700mAh on the Reno 16 and 7,000mAh on the Reno 16c.

On cameras, the reports point to a triple 50-megapixel setup on the standard model, covering the main, ultrawide and telephoto lenses, with a 50-megapixel periscope telephoto also tipped by one well-known leaker. One report puts a 200-megapixel main camera on the Pro, while others describe a triple 50-megapixel arrangement, so the camera details should be treated as unconfirmed until Oppo publishes them. The phones are also tipped to carry IP69-rated protection against dust and water, and to run ColorOS 17 based on Android 17.

The line-up could include three models — the Reno 17, Reno 17c and Reno 17 Pro — although Oppo has not confirmed the full range. The Reno 17c is tipped to use a MediaTek Dimensity 7300 chip with a 7,000mAh battery, and it may be the only model with a plastic frame.

There is no confirmed date for a launch outside China. One tipster report puts an India launch in December 2026, while another points to early January 2027, and the Pro model may not reach India at all. The Reno 16 and Reno 16c launched in India in July 2026, starting at Rs 61,999 and Rs 46,999 respectively, which gives a rough guide to where the new series may be priced — but Oppo has confirmed nothing on that front yet.

For buyers, the message from the launch is simple: the design is the talking point, the battery looks like the real upgrade, and the performance picture is less clear, with the reported chips largely unchanged from the previous generation. The full specifications and prices should become clear once today's China launch is complete.